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Martins tipped to come good

By Alex Livie

Glenn Roeder is confident Obafemi Martins will hit the goals trail in the near future.

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder is confident summer signing Obafemi Martins will hit the goals trail in the near future.

The Magpies shelled out some &pound;10 million for the Nigerian in the summer, but they have seen little by way of goals this term.

However, Martins produced an excellent all-round effort against Portsmouth on Sunday and Roeder feels the 22-year-old will soon find his scoring boots.

"We are not putting any pressure on Oba at all," said Roeder. "We are encouraging him and working with him in training.

"I have seen enough from Oba Martins to know he will go on a run, scoring plenty of goals."

Martins was denied his second Premiership goal of the season by an assistant's flag against Portsmouth, but Roeder feels the way he took the chance proved he has the tools required to flourish in The Premiership.

"In the goal which was disallowed - which should not have been disallowed - he showed the quality of a natural goalscorer in the way he just clipped it over the keeper and rolled it into an empty net," added the Magpies chief.

"It was just a real shame. He deserved not to have that goal struck off.

"Since he has come back from the hamstring injury, we have seen an Oba Martins that is more settled in the team, working much harder and he is just starting to come to grips with the pace of The Premiership and the difference between The Premiership and Serie A."